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1922 Trip Home to Germany

In 1922, after the end of World War I, Katherine "Bina" Philippina
Klein Bremser planned a trip to Germany to place a headstone on her mother
Katharine Wilhelmine Seel Klein's grave. Of their three daughters, Lizzie
and Lena already had children to
care for. Her youngest daughter Minnie, yet unmarried, went with her
to Burgschwalbach.

Sadly, the trip to place the grave marker proved fruitless. As was the
custom in Germany, her mother's grave had already been used for another
individual and could not be found. However, Bina and Minnie were able
to visit with many family members still living in Burgschwalbach.

Minnie Klein also met her first cousin Kurt, at 22 a veteran of the
first World War. In late April, 1923, he obtained a Reise-Pass or passport
and followed Minnie to the United States. Because they were first cousins,
many states' laws made marriage difficult, but they were finally married
in about 1926 in New York, and they honeymooned at Niagara Falls. Pictures
from the 1922 trip are shown below.

The Evangelisch (Lutheran) Church in Burgschwalbach
during a visit home by Wilhelmina "Minnie" Klein and
her mother, Katherine Philippina"Bina" Klein, in 1922.
The church still stands today.

The Wilhelm Klein family home in Burgschwalbach
in 1922. The house is also visible in the photo at top left.
This is the home Curt Klein grew up in. The house was torn down
in the 1960s.

Wilhelm Klein and his sister
Katherine Philippina "Bina" Klein in front of his home in
Burgschwalbach in 1922. Their brother, Johann Jacob Klein,
is the author's direct ancestor.

The former family home of Johann Jacob
Klein and his daughter, Bina Klein, as seen in Burgschwalbach in 1922.

The family passed through Ellis Island on their return to the United
States. From their records, we know that they traveled on the Reliance,
which carried 1,010 passengers
(290 first class, 320 second class, 400 third class).

Kurt returned on a visit to Germany in 1930, as shown by a postcard
he mailed home to his wife Minnie and his first cousin Jane Beasley.
The entire family returned home again in 1954 for a Bremser family reunion.